Not Soda When He's Sick
by JohnnyIsMyGoldSunset
Summary: Soda's caught a cold and Ponyboy and Darry aren't home. When Dallas, Johnny, and Steve come to the rescue, Soda turns completely opposite his carefree-self! What will the gang do to get Soda back to himself? Read and review!
1. Don't Take the Hints

Hey guys! New story that I hope y'all enjoy! No, there is not 'killing off' of people in this one! :)

**Oh, and this is dedicated to Rosebud5, thanks for the idea! :) **

Not Soda When He's Sick

Calm. Silent. Peaceful. Sodapop would use those words to describe his day off so far. Although he was practically choking on his sniffles and used up about eight boxes of tissues since he woke up, he was relaxed. Darry was at work, roofing houses, and insisted that Soda stay home after coughing all night long. Ponyboy had gone to school after trying to trick Darry into thinki8ng he had a cold, too. After feeling his forehead, Darry cocked an eyebrow and replied with, "Nice try, pal." So that left Soda, alone on the couch and bored out of his mind, praying that one of the guys would stop by to entertain him.

"Hmmm…I could play checkers," he mumbled to himself. He didn't care that it was a two-player game and grabbed the large box. After setting the board, Soda sat down and moved the blue piece one space. He started enjoying the game, actually. Maybe a bit too much.

"Yeah! Eat it, sucker! I jumped you!" he yelled at the blue pieces he called the Socs and, of course, he labeled the red ones "greasers."

"My buddy Dallas here is gonna flatten you into a nice, green pancake!" He jumped the red piece that he drew and angry, murderous face on over the plain, blue piece. Soda went on with this fixed game for about three minutes until his peanut-sized attention span kicked in.

"What is wrong with me?" he groaned, but then Sodapop had a great idea. Soda walked over to the phone and dialed the DX's number, hoping his best friend could drop by.

"Hello? This is the DX," a voice replied from the other line that sounded a lot like Steve.

"Steve? Is that you? It's Soda."

"No, this is Dallas Winston! I robbed the DX and took control of the place! Whatta you want?" Steve said jokingly, while doing his best Dally impersonation, which was actually pretty accurate.

Soda laughed into the line, but started to cough. "Steve, can you come over after work? I'm bored, man!"

Steve chuckled, "Sure, man, I'll be over at 12:30. Can you hold on for twelve minutes?"

"I'll try," Soda replied and hung up. The next twelve minutes felt like twelve hours as Soda stared at the minute hand tick by on the clock. Finally, the door opened and Steve appeared with a can of soup in his hands.

"Hey! I almost didn't make it," Soda groaned.

"Good thing I ran here as fast as I could," Steve laughed, "I brought you some chicken soup."

Soda looked at him strangely, "Steve, you know we have soup here…right?"

Steve rolled his eyes, "Oh well, you're eating gas station soup and you're gonna like it!"

"Okay!" Soda replied, but he didn't really like the sound of 'gas station soup.' Soda wouldn't eat half of the things they sold at the DX. He wasn't sure how long they'd been there and didn't know that the DX even had soup.

Steve started boiling the soup when a loud voice from outside was heard. Soda was a little upset when Dallas busted through the door, basically dragging little Johnny along with him into the hallway. Sodapop only wanted to be with Steve because he was sick and a little more impatient that usual. His head was pounding and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. Soda wasn't his carefree-self and wasn't in the mood for Dally's tricks today. But he kept his mouth shut.

"Hey, Soda!" Dally went to ruffle his hair, but retreated when Soda started coughing. "Ewww…" he added quietly. Soda frowned. He couldn't help his cough; at least he covered him mouth.

Johnny walked over and greeted Soda softly. Soda replied nicely, but still was annoyed that so many people were in his house. He could feel his blood boil when Dally turned on the radio and practically blasted out his eardrums.

"Dally, turn down the radio!" he shouted hoarsely.

"What?" Dallas returned at the same volume.

"I said, 'Turn down the radio!'"

"I can't hear you!"

"TURN DOWN THE DANG RADIO!"

"I'm not going to burn down your patio!" Dally shouted somewhat sarcastically.

_Glory_, Sodapop thought, _I can't take this_! Steve walked in with the soup and handed it to Soda.

"Umm…Stevie, is it supposed to look kinda yellow-green?" Soda asked after being a little turned off by the soup's color.

Steve laughed nervously, "Course it is!" He bolted into the kitchen.

Soda took a bite and actually liked the taste. Either because he could barely taste at all or because it was good, isn't known. Soda finished it off quickly and turned his head to the kitchen.

"Thanks, Steve," he said, but he felt like a stomachache was coming on. Soda's eyes widened and he started to get nervous.

"STEVE, GET ME A BUCKET!" he screamed. This made Johnny nervous and he just stared at Soda, his head tilted slightly left.

"NOW!" Soda added and Steve brought it in looking annoyed.

"Here, look, you don't gotta be so…" He was interrupted as Soda threw up into the bucket. Soda threw his head up quickly and groaned.

"Johnny, get my blanket," Soda said kind of shortly.

"Soda, really?" Dallas grumbled coming into the room.

Sodapop passed it off. He could only think about how mad he was at Steve. He also could think about how he just wanted to be alone now, or maybe with Darry, since Darry could take better care of him than these three losers.

"Johnny? C'mon, I'm cold!" Soda didn't realize he was being so bossy, but he didn't really care too much anyway.

"I'm coming," Johnny replied with a frown on his face. He was a little mad at Soda for being so cold and bossy with him. Johnny knew as well as anybody that if he was sick, he would still be nice to his friends. After all, they were at least _trying _to help, weren't they?

Johnny brought the blanket in and all he could see was Dally with his fists clenched near his sides. _Oh no_, he thought, _I hope Soda didn't get mouthy._

Dally's eye was twitching and his lower lip curled. _Shoot, I wish Darry was here._


	2. What Was Needed

Hey everybody! Thanks for the reviews for this story and I know you're all anxious, so I won't keep you waiting!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders….we get it.

Oh and P.S.: I was watching The Outsiders last Friday (of course) and I decided to count how many times Dally says 'man' throughout the entire movie since I know a lot of people wonder about that! I got 38 times! If anybody actually took the time to try that, tell me!

Not Soda When He's Sick

Soda looked at Dally impatiently. He didn't understand why Dallas was practically fuming. Soda was sick, now even sicker thanks to Steve, and he deserved to be treated better because of that. After all, he had just requested a favor.

Johnny walked over to Steve, a little nervous to find out what had happened.

"Steve, why is Dally so upset?" he questioned.

"Well, genius Soda over here practically commanded him to give him a back-rub," Steve replied kind of irritably.

Johnny's mouth dropped and Steve nodded in response. Soda _commanded Dally _to give him a _back-rub_? Johnny couldn't believe the nerve Soda had. One time, Dally knocked a guy out at a candy counter because he was asked to move over. Johnny had been there and was in complete shock when he saw that guy out cold on the floor. And Soda _commanded _Dallas to do something? _Glory_, Johnny thought, _why didn't I just stay home?_

"I am in no way going to give you a back rub," Dallas snarled as he tried to keep his fists at his sides.

"Well, you already broke my eardrums and my back hurts, so that's the least you can do," Soda retorted.

Dally raised his fists and glared at Soda. Johnny was watching from the kitchen doorway, aghast. Dally happened to glance at him, maybe by fate, and for his sake, controlled himself. Dallas moaned and stormed out of the room. Soda looked up at Johnny and felt a pounding migraine come on. He was more miserable than ever and couldn't really take anybody right now.

"Johnny, did you get my blanket? How many times do I have to say it? C'mon, I'm sick!" Soda sneezed and looked up to find Darry's blanket.

"That's Darry's! Mine's blue! Shoot, Johnny…" he griped.

"Does it really matter? It's just a blanket," Johnny muttered, a little put-off by Soda's attitude.

"Yes it matters! Mine is the best and that's the one I want!"

Johnny went into the other room and looked through a pile of blankets. Couldn't this have been easier?

"There're about ten different blue blankets! Does it have stripes?"

"Yes! Glory Johnny, just bring it in! I'm freezing!" Soda demanded.

Johnny reluctantly handed him a striped blue blanket. Soda took one look at it and sighed angrily.

"Johnny, this isn't the right one! There is definitely a striped, blue blanket in there! This is plaid, not striped!"

Johnny had lost it. He had a great temper and he was patient, but this was pushing it. Johnny gave Soda a provoked look and let it out.

"Look, I don't care if you're sick or not, but this is no way to treat you're friends! Why don't you get off your lazy butt and find your own blanket because I'm not doing it! Shoot, I'm sure glad you don't get sick often and I feel awfully sorry that Darry has to take care of you when you do!" Johnny had never talked to anybody like that and he was even shocked when he marched out the door, leaving Steve stunned and Dally confused at all the yelling. Soda cringed and almost convinced himself it was a dream. He remembered the last time he was really sick and Darry stayed home for him. Soda had been kind of mean to Darry, but Darry had put up with it and tried his best. Johnny was right and Soda suddenly felt guilty. Nobody had put him in his place like that, especially not little Johnnycake, but he did. Maybe that was what Soda truly needed after all. He knew he needed that as all the painful memories of sickness flooded his mind.


End file.
